MIDWIVES at the Royal Surrey have warned that the care of women and babies in Guildford could suffer because of an “attack” on staff terms and conditions of employment.

The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) said it was concerned the Royal Surrey County Hospital Foundation Trust would not be able to attract the right quality of staff if it carried out proposed changes.

At the end of last month, the Guildford hospital’s management sent out surveys asking all staff members to rank, in order of acceptability, a number of options for cutting pay costs.

The exercise was part of a bid to save £18m this year and reduce the overall cost of employment.

Claire Wood, regional officer for the RCM, said: “Our concern is how this could impact on maternity.”

Ms Wood said action taken by the Royal Surrey went against Agenda for Change – the NHS national pay and grading system introduced in 2004 to harmonise pay and terms and conditions for all workers, other than doctors.

“Many may simply move to other trusts nearby where the full range of terms and conditions are still in force,” she said.

“This means the care women and their babies receive could suffer if the trust struggles to recruit and retain staff.

“Clearly, in any maternity unit the amount of staff directly affects the number of women you can care for.

“We are not saying the Royal Surrey runs an unsafe maternity service – we know it is excellent – but we want to see that sustained and not threatened by cost-cutting.”

Ms Wood also said midwives would become demoralised if they were doing the same job for less money than they could find elsewhere.

“Women want to see staff there fairly rewarded and not penalised,” she added.

A hospital spokesman said the trust would never make any changes that could jeopardise the safety of patients.

“We can assure women they will continue to receive the excellent care that our maternity team provides,” she said. “The most important thing to stress is that no decisions have been made about what, if anything, will change.

“The aim of the staff survey is to ensure that all staff have an opportunity to have their say and that the opinion and views of staff help to shape any decisions in the future.

“The trust’s priority is to provide and maintain high quality and safe care for our patients.

“To ensure the savings we have to make do not impact the level of service we offer, we must preserve posts in the organisation.

“By looking at terms and conditions to make savings, we are doing all we can to maintain levels of staffing we have across the trust and protect the quality of services we offer.”

James Loginov, of patient watchdog Surrey LINk, said the wellbeing of patients was linked to the wellbeing of frontline staff patients rely on when they are at their “most vulnerable.”

He said: “Whether you are asking or demanding more for less, that puts pressure on staff who, like most people, are struggling to pay bills and do their jobs.

“The NHS is in the grip of a huge financial challenge and most people accept that difficult decisions have to be made but our health service is built on more then bricks and mortar.

“It is built on the commitment and dedication of staff, they make the difference to patients and whatever steps are taken, that fact must not be forgotten.”